The output of a six-axis force/torque sensor (F/T sensor) not only varies with force or torque but also is affected by ambient temperature. In order to check the effects of temperature drift on the measurement precision of the sensor, this paper carried out experiments to obtain the quantitative results without loading the force and torque. In detail, three methods, including the least square method, radial basis function neural network, and least square support vector machine (LSSVM), were used to achieve the temperature compensation, showing that the LSSVM has the obvious advantage. However, for obtaining the optimization parameters of the LSSVM model, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) was adopted. Experimental results imply that the F/T sensor compensated by the PSO LSSVM has higher measurement precision and temperature stability.

In this paper, a novel mechatronic design philosophy is introduced to develop a compact modular rotary elastic joint for a humanoid manipulator. The designed elastic joint is mainly composed of a brushless direct current (DC) motor, harmonic reducer, customized torsional spring, and fail-safe brake. The customized spring considerably reduces the volume of the elastic joint and facilitates the construction of a humanoid manipulator which employs this joint. The large central hole along the joint axis brings convenience for cabling and the fail-safe brake can guarantee safety when the power is off. In order to reduce the computational burden on the central controller and simplify system maintenance, an expandable electrical system, which has a double-layer control structure, is introduced. Furthermore, a robust position controller for the elastic joint is proposed and interpreted in detail. Vibration of the elastic joint is suppressed by means of resonance ratio control (RRC). In this method, the ratio between the resonant and anti-resonant frequency can be arbitrarily designated according to the feedback of the nominal spring torsion. Instead of using an expensive torque sensor, the spring torque can be obtained by calculating the product of spring stiffness and deformation, due to the high linearity of the customized spring. In addition, to improve the system robustness, a motor-side disturbance observer (DOb) and an arm-side DOb are employed to estimate and compensate for external disturbances and system uncertainties, such as model variation, friction, and unknown external load. Validity of the DOb-based RRC is demonstrated in the simulation results. Experimental results show the performance of the modular elastic joint and the viability of the proposed controller further.

A novel six-axis force/torque sensor (F/T sensor) for an Experimental Module Manipulator (EMM) in the Chinese Space Station (CSS) is developed in this paper. First, we designed the elastomer structure of the F/T sensor and used the analytical method and the finite element method to analyze the strain, in order to accomplish the strain gauges’ layout. Then, the electrical system was designed, which mainly realizes the acquisition of force/torque information, temperature and serial communication with the end effector (EE). Following this, we analyzed and designed the adaptability of the F/T sensor to the space environment. After this, the manufacturing process of the sensor was introduced in detail, and the F/T sensor was calibrated by a pulley weight system. Finally, the sensor was tested on the space environment adaptability of mechanical vibration and thermal vacuum on the ground. The test results show that the developed sensor has the ability to accurately measure three-dimensional force and three-dimensional moment information on orbit, which provides necessary conditions for the on-orbit fine operation of EMM.

We propose herein a unique mechanism of generating tunable surface charges in a metal-dielectric Janus nanopore for the development of nanofluidic ion diode, wherein an uncharged metallic nanochannel is in serial connection with a dielectric nanopore of fixed surface charge. In response to an external electric field supplied by two probes located on both sides of the asymmetric Janus nanopore, the metallic portion of the nanochannel is electrochemically polarized, so that a critical junction is formed between regions with an enriched concentration of positive and negative ions in the bulk electrolyte adjacent to the conducting wall. The combined action of the field-induced bipolar induced double layer and the native unipolar double layer full of cations within the negatively-charged dielectric nanopore leads to a voltage-controllable heterogenous volumetric charge distribution. The electrochemical transport of field-induced counterions along the nanopore length direction creates an internal zone of ion enrichment/depletion, and thereby enhancement/suppression of the resulting electric current inside the Janus nanopore for reverse working status of the nanofluidic ion diode. A mathematical model based upon continuum mechanics is established to study the feasibility of the Janus nanochannel in causing sufficient ion current rectification, and we find that only a good matching between pore diameter and Debye length is able to result in a reliable rectifying functionality for practical applications. This rectification effect is reminiscent of the typical bipolar membrane, but much more flexible on account of the nature of a voltage-based control due to induced-charge electrokinetic polarization of the conducting end, which may hold promise for osmotic energy conversion wherein an electric current appears due to a difference in salt concentration. Our theoretical demonstration of a composite metal-dielectric ion-selective medium provides useful guidelines for construction of flexible on-chip platforms utilizing induced-charge electrokinetic phenomena for a high degree of freedom ion current control.

In this paper, the head stabilization problem of the snake robot in planar motion is studied. When the snake robot performs a planar movement with an inchworm locomotion gait, the head controller of the snake robot swings up and down due to a fluctuation in the joint angle of the neck joint. However, the snake robot usually has a laser radar and other visual instruments on the head, and the swing of the head causes the visual instrument to fail to obtain external visual information normally, which affects the navigation and detection of the snake robot. In this paper, a head stabilization method for a snake robot in planar motion is proposed. The inertial sensor is used to obtain the direction parameters to control the swing of the head when the snake robot moves, and the effectiveness of the method is verified by a simulation and an experiment of the real robot.